


Ride It Like You Stole It

by geesenoises



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-06
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-02-16 08:58:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 4,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2263665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geesenoises/pseuds/geesenoises
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>updated 5/18/16 with a sourin ficlet</p><p>Various fics from AU fic prompts on tumblr. So far including: cop!Makoto, librarian!Rei, babysitter!Nagisa, and more to come.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. sousuke/makoto

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cop/person getting a speeding ticket au

Sousuke groaned audibly as he saw the flash of lights behind him. He didn’t normally speed, but he’d run incredibly behind at swim practice and didn’t want to miss his physical therapy appointment. His gamble hadn’t paid off, though, since he’d almost certainly have to reschedule now. Sousuke pulled over and steeled himself for an unpleasant conversation as the cop approached his car. It’s not like he’d had many run-ins with the law, but on a few occasions it seemed like cops took one look at his size and decided they had something to prove with him.

The police officer tapped on the window and Sousuke rolled it down.

"Hello. Would you please show me your license and registration?"

Sousuke blinked at the officer in confusion for a moment, and then turned to grab the requested information. Since when were cops so polite?

The police officer took the information and looked it over. “Well, Yamazaki-san, I don’t like having to do this but I have to issue a ticket. You were going thirty kilometers per hour over the speed limit!” He started filling out a ticket while Sousuke waited silently.

The cop handed the ticket to Sousuke. “I know everyone has important places to be, but there have been accidents on this part of the road before. Keeping to the speed limit is as much about keeping yourself safe, as it is about obeying the law.”

Sousuke took the ticket stared at the officer, who looked almost as tall as Sousuke himself was. The cop’s green eyes seemed to smile at him, even if his tone was stern. “R-right. Sorry about that, officer,” he stammered.

"Tachibana. Officer Tachibana Makoto," the cop offered. He took one more glance at Sousuke’s information before returning it. "You wouldn’t happen to be the swimmer Yamazaki Sousuke, would you?"

Sousuke nodded at Officer Tachibana dumbly.

Makoto abruptly smiled at him. “I used to swim in high school, though my specialty was backstroke. Good luck with your training for the Olympics! I’ll be cheering for you at home. But try to keep the speed for the pool from now on.”

"Y-yes," Sousuke stammered again.

Officer Tachibana waved and walked back to his car.

Sousuke sat in his car at a loss, gripping the ticket and his license. He watched as Officer Tachibana drove away and vaguely wondered if there was a way to figure out how to contact him from the ticket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m sure the requester meant cop!sousuke. but can you imagine makoto speeding?? he’s too much of an angel to break the law.


	2. makoto/rin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> meeting at a support group au
> 
> i was completely out of my depth with this one, so i'm not entirely happy with it. but in the interest of complete archiving, here we are.

It’s only months after his parents had gently suggested it that Makoto attends a support group. He walks into the roomful of strangers slightly early and fidgets while he waits for the meeting to start. There are all kinds of people here in the room, but only one other person who looks like he’s around Makoto’s age. He has bright red hair and looks intimidating, with a slight scowl on his face and dressed in dark colors. Makoto tugs off his glasses and wipes at them with his shirt, knowing he probably looks ridiculous but also needing something to do with his hands and being slightly relieved when everything around him goes slightly blurry.

The meeting starts just a few minutes later and Makoto just listens. When it’s his turn to speak, he simply introduces himself and falls silent. The boy with the red hair is just a few seats down from him in the circle. He introduces himself as Matsuoka Rin and tells a story this isn’t really anything like Makoto’s but it contained the same basic elements. Makoto watches Rin’s face closely as he speaks; he’d seem aggressive at first glance, slouched in his chair, but when Rin’s speaking everything is on his face. Makoto sees the same hurt and the same fear that he keeps locked up inside, and then towards the end of Rin’s story, there’s the beginnings of peace.

It takes a few more weeks for Makoto to feel comfortable saying anything more than his name. Some weeks Rin isn’t there, and some weeks Makoto isn’t. It’s months before Makoto feels like he’s made any progress, but the entire time, he listens to Rin and watches as the flicker of peace he’d seen in the first meeting grows and stabilizes. It’s reassuring to Makoto, who feels so wobbly himself, to at least see someone else moving forward.

One week, Makoto walks into the meeting room a half hour early. He hadn’t expected anyone to be in the room this early, but Rin’s sitting inside with headphones on, flicking through his phone with one hand and toying with his skateboard with the other. Makoto quietly takes a seat on the other side of the circle of chairs and turns round to drape his coat across the back of his seat.

"Uh, hi."

Makoto looks up, surprised to see Rin standing in front of him. He has his headphones down around his neck, and for all the time that Makoto has spent studying Rin’s face, he’s never seen this expression on it. For all the personal details he’s shared with the group, Rin has never looked… embarrassed.

Rin gestures at the seat next to Makoto. “Can I..?”

"S-sure," Makoto nods, unsure of how to proceed. They’d never really interacted before.

"Makoto, I was, um," Rin pauses and looks directly at him. "You probably have plans, but if you’re free, I was wondering if you’d want to talk some more after the meeting today."

A feeling of warmth spreads through Makoto. He smiles at Rin. “Yes, I’d really like that.”


	3. rin/rei

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> librarian/avid reader au

Rei loved his job. He could go into raptures about the beauty of information organization and always went a little starry-eyed when a new shipment of books came into the library. He liked that libraries always felt like a place of peace and sanctity, and felt deeply protective of his library in particular. So when Rin walked in for the first time, with ripped jeans, a skateboard tucked under his arm, and headphones on, Rei couldn’t help but straighten his glasses and frown suspiciously.

And months later when Rei told him about that first impression (after seeing Rin come in at the same time every week, finding out that their taste in books overlapped, and getting reprimanded by the head librarian too many times for neglecting other library duties in favor of getting Rin’s opinion on the latest book he’d finished), Rin grinned that pointy-toothed smile of his and quipped, “You’re not supposed to judge a book by it’s cover.”

\----------

At the end of one visit, Rin pulled a book out out of his bag and handed it to Rei. Rin interrupted Rei as he automatically grabbed for the scanner.

"That’s actually one of mine. From home," He paused and took a breath. "So read it and tell me how you like the ending next week."

Rin grabbed the books he’d checked out for the week and hurriedly walked out as he hastily crammed them into his bag. Rei stared after him, confused by his behavior and also slightly miffed at his rough treatment of library books. He glanced down at the book in his hands and set it aside carefully, so he wouldn’t mix it up with other books, and waited out the rest of the workday.

Rei examined the book once he got home. It looked well-worn, like Rin had read it several times. There were a few places where Rin had underlined and written notes in pencil. As Rei read, he found himself nodding along to Rin’s commentary. When he got to the end, there was a note stuck on the inside cover. Rei read the note, figuring it would be thoughts on the ending of the novel, since Rin had specifically mentioned it. His eyes widened when the message was something different altogether.

Rin visited the library the next week at his usual time, walking in without his skateboard or even headphones on. He walked up to the counter to return last week’s books, trying obviously (even to Rei) to act casual. “What did you think of the ending?”

When Rin looked up from the books, a blush spread over Rei’s face and he found that he couldn’t quite handle looking casual either. He took a breath and sat up straighter as he adjusted his glasses. “While I appreciate a good ending”—he paused to make sure he looked Rin in the eyes—“I find that I enjoy strong beginnings even better.”

Rin blinked at him for a moment before his face split into a grin and he started laughing. He leaned against the counter and choked out, “I can’t believe you said something like that.”

Rei watched him and started laughing too. They muffled themselves and calmed down when somebody shushed them from across the room. After a quick apology, they smiled at each other.

"If you come back after closing we can go talk about the book. And actually—" Rei leaned over and pulled out two books from under the counter. "I have a book of my own that I’d like you to read."

A mother with two children walked into the library and paused at the entrance to take their coats off. Rin hurriedly took the books. “I’ll just read it while I wait here for you. Then we can talk about both of them over dinner.” He took a step away from the counter and paused. “Oh, and one more thing—” Rin leaned across the countertop and pulled Rei into a kiss. It lasted for a second, and then Rin was walking away again. “I’ll see you later.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and then rei has to check in those kids’ books while he’s all red in the face and rin giggles at him from behind the book he’s reading. rin starts coming in more often specifically to antagonize rei like this—coercing him into making out while on shelving duty, putting in interlibrary loan requests for racy books that he needs for “research” purposes. the other librarians just laugh whenever rei threatens to take away borrowing privileges and ban rin from the library.


	4. rei/nagisa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nanny/single parent au
> 
> requester also asked for rin to feature as rei's kid!

Rei answered the door on a Friday night to find Nagisa there with a movie and a bag of takeout.

"Hazuki-san? What are you doing here? I thought I texted you that I would be home today."

Nagisa just smiled at him beatifically and made his way into the apartment. “You did, but I was free and Rin-chan mentioned a movie he wanted to watch last week, so I thought I would bring it over. And I told you to call me Nagisa.”

Nagisa had, in fact, told Rei this within the first five minutes they had met. Rei had had his misgivings about hiring Nagisa at first, but he needed somebody who could look after Rin whenever he worked late, and Rin had instantly taken to Nagisa when he’d complimented Rin’s orange and teal shark-print t-shirt.

Rei sighed. “Actually, Rin is staying over at Nanase-kun’s home tonight.”

Nagisa’s smile brightened even further and he made himself busy unloading containers of takeout. “Then I guess it’s just you and me tonight, Rei-chan.”

"I was planning to get some work done…"

"Aw, come on. It’s a Friday night! You can’t work on a Friday night." Nagisa opened up one of the trays. "Besides, I brought this ootoro for Rin-chan to try, but since he’s not here…"

Rei wandered closer into the living room and saw all his favorite kinds of sushi laid out on the table. He heard his stomach grumble in response and blushed. “I guess I would have to eat anyway. And this is too much food for you to eat alone.”

Nagisa handed him a pair of chopsticks.

The next morning Rin arrived home from his sleepover and found his father still asleep on the couch and Nagisa burning eggs in the kitchen. They traded high fives and Rin went to wake up his dad for breakfast.


	5. sousuke/haruka

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "/whispers souharu with 14 i'm expecting great chemistry puns"
> 
> lab partners au
> 
> basically, this is a game of "spot the chemistry vocabulary"

Transferring schools mid-year meant you ended up working alone or you were stuck with whoever had ended up working alone before you got there. Sousuke had learned this over years of periodically moving around for his father’s work. And upon transferring into Iwatobi High School, it meant Sousuke was stuck being lab partners with Nanase Haruka. It wasn’t that Nanase was a bad lab partner; it’s just that bonding with him proved difficult. Sousuke and Haru just didn’t react well together.

Sousuke didn’t want to spend the entire year avoiding an explosion—both figuratively and literally—so he tried asking around. If he could find some catalyst they could base their relationship on, their adventures in chemistry would go a lot more smoothly.

“Oh, don’t take it personally,” Makoto told him. They sat next to each other in math class and Sousuke had seen Nanase eating lunch with him sometimes. “Haru’s probably feeling out of his element.”

“I don’t know why you’re trying to be so noble about the whole thing. Maybe there is no solution,” Rin told him. “I’d consider the whole situation solvent and just move on. If you just do your work, it’ll be fine.”

After a month of chilly relations, Sousuke was starting to think that maybe Rin was right. Maybe there was just an absolute zero percent chance that he and Nanase could get along. Sousuke sat silently next to Haru, waiting for their teacher to assign and describe the day’s experiments.

“I know everyone likes to know they’re working with dangerous and exciting things, but today we’ll be working primarily with water.”

Haru sat up straighter.

“Water is all around us and feels like something we’re all very familiar with, but I think you’ll be surprised at all the interesting things you can do with it.”

The teacher described the things they needed to do and set them loose in the lab. Haru turned to Sousuke, visibly excited and with a small smile on his face. It was the most expressive he’d been the entire semester. “I’ll go get the water.”

With those words, it felt like all the built up frustration between them had immediately sublimated into thin air. Haru got out of his seat to gather the materials and left Sousuke sitting at the bench hoping this was an indicator of better things to come.


	6. haruka/rin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prostitute/client au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> had to bump up the rating of the entire thing for this one bit of they-don't-even-go-all-the-way porn (i.e. i was too lazy to write it).

Rin has never had a client this stoic. It's not really that he cares about getting clients off so much as he's interested in knowing what he's doing works. Rin knows he's good; he's got the most regulars out of everyone at the agency, but here he is, taking someone's cock so deep in his mouth that he's almost choking on it and all the reaction he's gotten is a sharp exhale and a bitten lip. Rin pulls off and looks up at him. "If something's not working for you, let me know. I'm here to make you feel good after all."

Haruka looks down, cheeks slightly flushed. At least there's that, Rin thinks. The other man does say a word, breathing evenly if a little heavier.

"Um,  were you maybe expecting a woman? It's happened before, with my name and my hair and all." Though Rin had to admit it's never gotten quite this far in those situations.

Haruka looks at him sharply. "No."

No? No what? This guy is really not giving Rin much to work with.

"What you were doing was good.  It felt good." The words come out slowly and quietly. When Rin looks, Haruka has his head turned away.

"Oh. Okay. Good! I'll just keep going then." Rin reaches up to grab the base of Haruka's cock and starts lowering his head.

"No!" Startled, Rin jerks his head back and loosens his hold on Haruka. Now what?

"Let me touch you too." He reaches a hand down to pull Rin up so they're on the same level and leans forward to suggest a kiss. Rin meets him halfway and they start kissing messily, all the saliva and precome from earlier smearing across their lips.

The space between them narrows as Haruka simultaneously shifts forward and pulls Rin closer. Soon Rin is practically sitting in his lap, one hand tangled in Haruka’s dark hair and the other resting on his thigh, waiting for him to initiate something further than the kiss.

Haruka obliges him. His lips are shiny and slightly swollen when he pulls away. Rin’s hand in his hair keeps him close, their breath mingling in the slight distance between them. The grip on his arm loosens, and instead Haruka presses their cocks together in a loose fist. It feels like the resulting groan of pleasure is pulled out of him. Haruka is intent in stroking them, maintaining a steady pace, not breaking eye contact with Rin.

They stay like this for awhile, kissing and breaking apart for air and coming together again. The loose pressure of Haruka’s hand is enough to feel good but not enough push either of them over the edge, and Rin starts to get impatient. He turns his head away from Haruka and starts dropping kisses along the length of his neck. “Isn’t it time we moved on?”

Haruka doesn’t respond, but he does increase the pressure of his hand and twists it in a way that causes Rin to whine low in his throat.

Haruka’s breath puffs hot across the shell of Rin’s ear. His voice is barely above a murmur, but this close, Rin can hear every word clearly: “We have all night to move on.”


	7. rin/nitori

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> long distance relationship au

There are only a few computers equipped with webcams and microphones on the Samezuka campus, but Ai stops by the computer labs whenever he has a free moment. If he’s lucky, he can borrow one of the school’s laptops and reserve a private study room for himself, and if he’s unlucky, he has to repeatedly kick Momo out of the room and soundly slam the door in his face to get a quiet moment.

But once he’s secured this, Ai signs into skype and dials the only contact he has on his list: Rin. Today, he catches Rin just as he’s about to leave for training. They only have a few minutes, but it’s enough. It’s enough to see Rin flash a pointy-toothed smile, to ask him one of the thousands of questions he has about being captain, to say I miss you, I love you, to hear it back. Then Rin really has to go, or he’ll catch hell from his coach.

Ai stares at the screen for a moment after they hang up and then shakes himself. He’s got homework to do, training schedules to come up with, and one more thing--a quiet thought he keeps in the back of his mind, as if exposing it to light will make it disappear. It stays in head while he returns the laptop, on the route from the library to the dorms, and while he checks that he’ll be alone in his room. Ai sits at his desk--neat by his standards, but probably not anywhere near good enough for Rin’s--and pushes aside the supplementary English textbooks. He opens a drawer and pulls out a sheaf of papers. On top is his career survey, still blank except for this name. He slides that page off and to the side, and underneath: Application for International Students, University of Sydney.

Ai has always worked hard for the things that he wants. It’d taken months to convince his parents that Samezuka was the place for him. He spent an entire year shaving down his times so he could swim in a relay with Rin. For now, five or ten stolen minutes on skype are enough, but Ai’s going to work hard to change his times on that one too.

 


	8. rin/haruka

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ghost/living person au

Haru’s lived in the same house in Iwatobi his entire life, and for as far back as he can remember there’s always been _something_ there. Over the years, he’s caught glimpses of it: an outline in at night in a moonlit room, a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. His grandmother sometimes muttered about spirits and calling in someone from the local temple to do a cleansing, but her grumblings never materialized into anything, and Haru wasn’t inclined to get involved with something that didn’t particularly concern him.

It’s not until a couple years after his grandmother’s passed away, when his parents think he’s grown up enough to live on his own--with reassurances from the Tachibanas that they would keep an eye on him--that something develops out of the flashes and half visions Haru’s had all his life. About a week after his parents leave, Haru’s sitting down to dinner, chopsticks poised. He pauses and looks slowly around the room, seemingly empty.

“You can stop hiding. I know you’re there,” he announces. Haru waits for a moment and sets his chopsticks down when nothing happens, as if to signal that he’s willing to wait this one out. “I’m the only one who’s living here for now, so you don’t have to keep messing around.”

Another minute passes, the only sounds in the room come from the ticking clock and Haru’s breathing. Someone starts to fade into vision across the table from Haru. The process is slow, done almost grudgingly. When it’s complete, there’s a boy around Haru’s age leaning against the table with a look on his face halfway between irritated and bemused. Though he’s unmistakably there, he’s not present in the same way a human being would be. It’s the first clear look Haru’s gotten of him. He can tell that the spirit’s hair is supposed to be red and that the shirt he has on is supposed to be black, but it’s like half the color’s been drained out of him all over and someone took an eraser and faded out all his edges.

“Tch, mackerel again. That’s like the fourth time this week. That can’t be good for you.”

Haru stops his examination of the spirit and glares at him. “How would you know? When was the last time you even ate?”

That freezes the spirit in his tracks and puts a look on his face that gets Haru thinking about an apology. But a second later, he’s laughing. The moment of tension broken, Haru starts eating his dinner, seeing no point in waiting for someone who can’t eat anyway. When the spirit calms down, Haru asks, “Do you have a name?”

“Of course I do. Matsuoka Rin.”

“That’s kind of a girly name.”

“So’s Haruka,” Rin shoots back. He looks thoughtful for a moment. “You’re not alarmed by this at all? A ghost showing up in your home?”

Haru looks up from his food, giving the spirit another once over. Matsuoka Rin, he reminds himself. The nameless spirit he’s been catching glimpses of his entire life has a name, and for the first time, they’re sitting and talking to each other face to face. Haru lets the corners of his mouth quirk up slightly. “Why should I be? It’s your home too.”

 

**Bonus:**

“So when should we tell Makoto?”

“You know who Makoto is?”

“Of course I do. He’s here all the time.”

“Then you should know why we shouldn’t tell Makoto.”

“......Yeah, I guess we should think about it. You probably don’t want two ghosts hanging around here forever.”


	9. sousuke/rin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> going off to war au
> 
> i've been writing this on and off (mostly OFF obviously) for like 2 years now. a giant sorry to renee, who requested it way back when. i never forgot about it! i hope you like it!

Sousuke stands on the porch and watches the sun rise and disperse the early morning haze. There’s a stillness in the air and a faint chill brushes Sousuke through the thin cloth of his yukata. He can smell the still damp earth and hear the cries of early-rising flocks of birds in the distance. The cries are loud and shrill, but Sousuke can remember a time he was greeted in the morning by silence and the acrid smells of smoke and metal. He remembers waking up to haze that wasn’t dew evaporating from the grass, but the lingering evidence of a burning countryside. 

The hollow echoing of steps drawing closer on the wooden porch pulls him away from his silent contemplation of the morning. Rin stands next to him dressed in full armor, with all its layers and hard edges. Sousuke’s eyes sweep over him, checking every tie and buckle.

"Ai knows what he’s doing. I’ll be fine." Rin laughs at the intensity of his gaze. They both know it’s a laugh meant to deflect all the feelings dredged up in Sousuke by the sight of Rin leaving for war.

After all, they’re closer than brothers or family—the kind of intimacy that can only be forged in the fire of battle and cooled in the shed blood of their enemies. They’ve been to war together, and now Rin will be going to defend the daimyo without Sousuke. 

Rin raises a hand to Sousuke’s shoulder and gently touches him. His fingertips skirt around the puffy scar hidden under Sousuke’s clothes. “I’m sorry.”

"For what? It wasn’t your fault." Sousuke pulls his shoulder away from Rin’s hand. "You would’ve done the same for me."

They had been cut off from the rest of the group, two against six, and Sousuke intercepted a blade meant for Rin’s heart. Instead of losing Rin, Sousuke lost the ability to fight alongside him. A man without the full use of one arm could not be an archer or a swordsman. He could not be a warrior—and that made him dead weight on a field of foes. 

Sousuke knows Rin isn’t apologizing for the wound. His apologies are always for leaving, for the bitterness of being left behind that is etched into every newly formed line on Sousuke’s face and drawn in the tightness of his smiles. They vowed to fight and die for the daimyo, but their real promises were always to fight and die together.

Nitori rounds the corner of the house with Rin’s horse. They stand on the main path leading to the house, waiting for Rin to mount. The horse stamps and snorts, as if already touched by the fever of battle. Sousuke relieves Nitori of the reins so the servant can make his own last minute preparations for war. Rin arrives a step behind and places a hand on Sameha's neck, who calms under his owner's touch. The horse’s hot breath clouds in the dawn chill.

The two men stand close. Rin tilts his head up to look at Sousuke. “I’m coming back here.” It’s a reassurance and a promise.

“Don’t make me come looking for you.”

Rin snorts. “As if you wouldn’t get lost going out on your own. I’d probably have to go looking for you instead.” He grins wide and toothy and chuckles at his own joke.

“Hey.” Sousuke’s voice is flat enough to get Rin to calm down and look at him again. Sousuke leans in close, using Sameha’s mass to shield them from view of the troops gathering in the courtyard. “I want to go with you.” It’s a wish that binds them and divides them in the same breath. Sousuke reaches a hand up to pull Rin in, to cross the divide. Rin’s mouth and the steady beat of his pulse under Sousuke’s fingertips are two points of warmth in the early spring cold. He’s caught by surprise mid-laugh and Sousuke takes advantage of his already open mouth. He pours all his frustration and yearning into the heat of the kiss. Burning countryside.

They break apart even as their bodies try to curl towards each other for just one more moment. It’s time. Sousuke continues to steady Sameha as Rin pulls the bulk of himself and his armor on to his mount. Rin takes the reins and with one last look, wheels to face his troops. Seeing his commander ready, Rin’s second-in-command gives the cry for them to form their marching lines. In a matter of moments the milling and clanking of hundreds of men has stopped and a ready army stands in attention for Rin’s signal. The gates of the compound are opened and with a drop of Rin’s hand, the army begins their journey. 

Sousuke doesn’t watch the entire procession leave through the gates but he can hear the steady beat of boots and hooves thundering in unison and drowning out the morning’s birdsong. He’d turned to head back to the house at Rin’s signal, as if he had been standing at attention himself. He makes his way to his rooms and changes into a hakama and pulls a practice weapon from the wall. Sousuke massages his shoulder briefly before taking up the beginning stance for a series of drills. There is work to do.


End file.
